{"id":217711,"date":"2025-10-16T16:36:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T16:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/217711\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T16:36:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T16:36:14","slug":"bait-and-switch-contracts-common-beyond-arrivecan-procurement-watchdog-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/217711\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Bait and switch\u2019 contracts common beyond ArriveCan, procurement watchdog finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A report by the Procurement Ombud’s office found that last year in 76 per cent of ArriveCan-related contracts reviewed, some or all of the individuals proposed to win the contract did not do any of the work.Laura Proctor\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

A broad review by the federal Procurement Ombud has found numerous cases of \u201cbait and switch\u201d in government contracting, a practice in which companies land a contract based on their specific roster of skilled workers only to have less-qualified contractors perform the actual work.<\/p>\n

The report by Alexander Jeglic also includes criticism of Public Services and Procurement Canada\u2019s planned reforms to contracting, even though the department asked the Ombud not to publish those warnings.<\/p>\n

Mr. Jeglic\u2019s decision to look more deeply into the issue was inspired by concerns flagged in connection to contracts for the ArriveCan<\/a> app for cross-border travellers, which relied heavily on outside IT contractors.<\/p>\n

He reported<\/a> last year that in 76 per cent of ArriveCan-related contracts that his office reviewed, some or all of the individuals proposed to win the contract did not do any of the work.<\/p>\n

Mr. Jeglic\u2019s office then decided to study whether the issue is widespread. The result of that work was published Thursday in a report called \u201cBait and Switch.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ottawa offers few details on why ArriveCan contractors failed 16 Indigenous procurement audits<\/a><\/p>\n

The study looked at 17 contracts across several departments. It found that in nine cases, or 53 per cent, some or all of the individuals put forward to win the contract were replaced.<\/p>\n

In seven of those nine cases, or 41 per cent of the contracts, the review found the replacements were not evaluated to see whether they had met or exceeded the experience of the originally proposed workers, as required under the contracts.<\/p>\n

In an interview, Mr. Jeglic said the study found that the practice takes place at a \u201chigh rate\u201d and could have been avoided had officials simply enforced existing powers to ensure replacements are at least as qualified as the individuals who are originally proposed.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Procurement Ombudsman Alexander Jeglic says a study by his office found the practice of ‘bait and switch \u2013 where companies win bids by proposing skilled workers but use less-qualified contractors to do the work \u2013 takes place at a ‘high rate.’Justin Tang\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The report says bait-and-switch tactics can be considered a violation of procurement rules, or possibly fraud, if the supplier never intended to use the resources they originally proposed.<\/p>\n

Mr. Jeglic said his office does not have the mandate to say definitely whether cases it reviewed amount to fraud because it can only focus on the actions of government.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a limitation of our work,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can\u2019t opine as to why suppliers did what they did.\u201d<\/p>\n

To reduce cases of bait and switch, the report recommends that departments obtain signed proof of consent from individuals who are listed by a contractor as being available to work. It also recommends that departments ensure any replacement workers meet or exceed the requirements of the contract.<\/p>\n

Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), the main department responsible for federal contracting, is moving to a new system that does away with assessing the skills of individuals, focusing instead on the contractor\u2019s corporate capacity and past performance.<\/p>\n

Company that worked on ArriveCan app banned from government contracts for 7 years<\/a><\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s report said while the government\u2019s new approach \u201celiminates the issue of bait and switch, it does so by ignoring it while doing little to achieve for the department the quality of product it bargained and paid for.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comment is in a section that warns of unintended consequences related to the government\u2019s new approach.<\/p>\n

The report published PSPC\u2019s response to the Ombud, including a request that the office remove that sentence and other criticism from the final report.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile PSPC will consider the concerns raised by OPO in the Unintended Consequences and Potential Solutions sections of the draft report as part of our professional services transformation action plan, PSPC does not support including these paragraphs in the report to be released as the assertions made in paragraph 95 to paragraph 110 are not supported by data and information contained in the documents reviewed by your office. <\/p>\n

\u201cConsequently, PSPC is of the view that these paragraphs are speculative and out of the review\u2019s scope. As such, PSPC considers that these 2 sections should not be made public,\u201d the department\u2019s reply states.<\/p>\n

Underneath the ArriveCan scandal, questions swirl about Ottawa\u2019s Indigenous procurement requirements<\/a><\/p>\n

The report then adds a note from the Ombud\u2019s office: \u201cPSPC\u2019s Organizational Response has been considered but OPO will retain Paragraph 95-110 as part of the report.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Procurement Ombud is not an officer of Parliament, meaning the office is not as independent as other watchdogs that report directly to Parliament, such as the Auditor-General or the Parliamentary Budget Officer.<\/p>\n

Instead, the Ombud is appointed to a five-year term by cabinet and reports to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services.<\/p>\n

Mr. Jeglic told The Globe he questions why departments are moving to a new system focused on evaluating companies, rather than the individuals who will be performing the work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure that there was a need to kind of replace how the process works,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we were saying is: \u2018Hey, you had all the tools. You just didn\u2019t use them as effectively as you could have, and the solution was already there.\u2019 But appreciating also that there was an inordinate amount of pressure, post-ArriveCan, to find solutions to these problems.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: A report by the Procurement Ombud’s office found that last year in 76…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48,714],"class_list":{"0":"post-217711","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}